Last night I wrote about my dad (picture coming soon) and today I write a letter to the Holy Father of the Roman Catholic Church. Will he get it or not? I doubt it, but maybe someone along the line to the top will get it and think. Since I have not mailed it yet so if you have suggestions please let me know ASAP.
Dear Holy Father,
I write you as a pilgrim in the Catholic Church in Milwaukee, WI with two urgent requests.
From the very beginning the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has practice segregation of African Americans and the poor and marginalized in the poorest, most segregated, most criminalized(50% of young African American adults going back and forth to prison) area of Milwaukee, the North Central Milwaukee, the Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee has reduced the number of Catholic Churches in the area from seventeen to three. The latest Catholic Church to close in the area was already a merged Church and reaped the Catholic Church 1.1 million dollar fund which the Archdiocese placed with one of the three Churches at the corner of the area that is in the processed of united with another Church under one pastor outside of the area. One million dollars plus is being putting into an ‘endowment’ for ‘future Church’ rather than being used for outreach in North Central Milwaukee as it was intended to be used by former parishioners.
Marquette Catholic Jesuit University is the only university or college in the five county areas to offer military training on campus and only one of two Catholic universities in the USA (Notre Dame) to have contracts with the Department of Defense for military training on campus for Army, Navy/Marines and Air Force. The military training at Marquette University, among other things, consists of teaching ‘reflexive killing’, killing without use of conscience and the priority of military values over conscience. The Archbishop of Milwaukee and the administration of Marquette have ignored our pleas for Marquette to be faithful to the Gospel and not to host military training for war and killing on campus. We cannot even have an open dialog with university on this subject.
Our requests, Pope Francis, are simple: 1) For you to request our Archbishop and parish board of directors not to store away the one million plus dollars in a another trust fund but to use it to provide basics like beds, stoves and refrigerators to the poorest of the poor in North Central Milwaukee. (Previously we sent you a parable of what could be, Thy Kingdom Come on Earth …as it is in Heaven” and proposal for a ‘sustainable workers of mercy fund’, one of many proposals for the poor and marginalized for the money that were not openly considered by the Catholic church. 2) For you to request that the Archbishop of Milwaukee and the President and Board of Directors of Marquette University be faithful to the Gospel and no longer host Departments of Military Science on campus.
We have research and information to back up all our statements and in the email copy of this letter will link some statements and will be glad to provide you more detail.
We are all grateful for your leadership in our Catholic Church. However, we were taught by Jesuits and Franciscans to practice what we preach and that love expresses itself best in deed not words. We live in a hierarchal church and we the people, especially voices of the poor, need your help on these two requests.
Your servant in Christ,
Bob Graf
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